Zeng Jingrong was the last to leave, reminding Tian Jing to be careful with the next batch.
According to the middle-aged man, the next batch would consist of 20 people, and their levels would be higher than the current group. He was worried that if there were too many Level Four individuals, Tian Jing might not be able to handle them alone.
Tian Jing nodded and asked if he had leveled up.
He nodded, "Early Stage Five."
Tian Jing was still not satisfied. "After this matter is settled, and after Xiao Bo's wedding, I will go to the camp to guard. You will go to the seaside to focus on your cultivation."
Zeng Jingrong was naturally willing. He was tied down by his duties in the team and could hardly find four to five months for cultivation in a year.
After Zeng Jingrong left, Tian Jing locked the courtyard gate and continued to the nursery.
Zhou Chengbing had already left.
Seeing Tian Jing, Ouyang Meihua, who was observing the ginseng seedlings, asked if she needed anything.
"If I needed anything, would I still be here?"
Tian Jing spoke, looking up at the sunshade net and feeling the temperature inside the greenhouse. She continued,
"If the temperature rises further, hang two layers of sunshade net on the rose thorn vines."
Ouyang Meihua nodded. "Why did you suddenly decide to grow this stuff? It's not like you to bother with such troublesome things."
"You know me best," Tian Jing sighed with feigned weariness. "Someone needed it, so they came to me."
"Who?"
"Ziyu's maternal grandfather."
"There are old men who aren't polite like that! He's asking you to do things right after becoming in-laws. What about later..."
Tian Jing chuckled. "Sister-in-law, you misunderstand. There are too many twists and turns involved here. I'm growing this for him for free. All other matters, this old man has handled."
"That's more like it, otherwise..." Ouyang Meihua's words were interrupted by Tian Jing's phone ringing.
Tian Jing picked up the phone, and Shen Jianrong's voice came from the earpiece:
"Captain Tian, your guards at the bridgehead won't let me in."
"You're already here?"
"Yes, I wanted to give you a surprise, but I got stopped."
Tian Jing told her to hand the phone to the guard for a moment.
The guard explained that Village Chief Zhou had instructed them to pay more attention to strangers entering the village. The ten foreigners who had just been allowed in were personally received by Village Chief Zhou.
Tian Jing said she would go and receive them herself, so as not to make things difficult for the guards.
Ouyang Meihua heard that Yu Ziyu's mother had arrived and also wanted to go and see.
Tian Jing locked the greenhouse door and asked the men in the duty room to keep an eye on the adjacent greenhouse.
The men on duty nodded repeatedly. Not only the forty of them, but all the employees at the nursery knew that precious medicinal herbs were being grown in the adjacent greenhouse.
At the bridgehead parking lot, Shen Jianrong and Shen Jianfang sat in the car waiting.
Shen Jianfang came along because her younger sister wanted a change of driver, and she also wanted to see what Ku Shan Li had become.
Years ago, when she and her two brothers came to pick up their father, the roads became worse and worse, the villages more remote, the houses adobe bricks, and the villagers gaunt and sallow. It made her heart ache and worry about her father's health.
Who would have thought that her father's health was better than that of his children?
From the northern province all the way here, the changes in both cities and the countryside were tremendous.
But what struck her as the most significant change was after heading north from this small county town.
Firstly, there were not many crops along the country roads, but a lot of dried tobacco.
Secondly, wherever one could see a village, one could see continuous greenhouses.
She thought these continuous greenhouses were Ku Shan Li's Village One and Village Two.
When she asked a villager by the roadside, the villager told her that Ku Shan Li Village Two was in the next village, and Ku Shan Li Village One was the village past the Five Li Slope curve.
Then, continuing inward until there was no road, that was Ku Shan Li main village.
She knew Five Li Slope. Back then, for various reasons, they had left the car in the county town and walked into Ku Shan Li to pick up her father.
If Li Zhengguo hadn't taken them and their father on a detour, it would have been truly uncertain whether they could have returned to the capital smoothly.
Soon, elementary schools, health clinics, and new shops lining the streets appeared along the country road. The impression of Ku Shan Li in her memory was thus replaced by these new sights.
When the bridgehead guards refused them entry, she couldn't quite describe her feelings.
She stared at the five-story building at the entrance of the village and asked her sister, "Little sister, do you think we can still find the original appearance of the villages in Ku Shan Li? Dad asked me to take some photos for him. He wants to find the people and things from back then."
"I don't know," Shen Jianrong shook her head. "But I heard Tian Jing say that many old houses haven't been demolished."
Shen Jianfang was relieved. "That's good. I'll take some photos of the old houses and the elderly to bring back."
Tian Jing and Ouyang Meihua arrived at the bridgehead, but did not see Shen Jianrong.
The guards pointed towards the parking lot.
In the parking lot, besides a few large trucks, there was only a white seven-seater car, the very car Tian Jing had given to Yu Ziyu.
The car originally had no license plate, but now it had a Kyoto plate.
Shen Jianrong also saw Tian Jing. She nudged her elder sister, and the two sisters got out of the car together.
"Captain Tian."
"Captain Tian."
Tian Jing pretended to be displeased. "Sister Shen, Jianrong, you're being too formal."
"Hehe," Shen Jianrong smiled. "Isn't it because Captain Tian's reputation has spread to the capital? We should be careful."
"Go away!" Tian Jing shot Shen Jianrong a playful glare and pointed to Ouyang Meihua beside her to introduce her to the Shen sisters.
Shen Jianfang immediately recognized her as Captain Tian's sister-in-law and eagerly stepped forward to shake her hand. "Sister-in-law, Ziyu has mentioned you many times."
"He said you have the most straightforward personality, speak most frankly, and act most efficiently."
Ouyang Meihua, hearing that this was the mother of the Li sisters, also warmly grasped the other's hand.
"Oh my, Ziyu exaggerates a bit."
"I'm only human after all. Humans have emotions and desires, and it's inevitable to lose one's temper sometimes, I just don't often."
The two women held hands and wouldn't let go, each complimenting the other as they shook hands, making Tian Jing and Shen Jianrong unable to help but laugh.
"Alright, let's go home and chat," Tian Jing interrupted their mutual praises.
The four of them got into the car, and it drove onto the bridge.
Once on the bridge, they could see the general layout of the houses in the village at a glance.
To the west of the five-story building, the old houses still existed.
But they were very different from Shen Jianfang's memory.
Tian Jing pointed towards the direction of the quadrangle courtyard and told Shen Jianrong to turn north to the east of the five-story building.
Once they turned in, they were in the quadrangle courtyard's territory. The car stopped by the steps of the courtyard.
Shen Jianrong and Shen Jianfang carefully observed the quadrangle courtyard, which resembled those in the capital.
To the west were large fields of crops, making the quadrangle courtyard feel as if it were built on a farm, full of pastoral charm.
To the east, a gently flowing river, a lush green riverbank, and tranquility and leisure filled the heart with delight.
Then, looking at the first floor of the quadrangle courtyard...
"Hahaha," Shen Jianrong couldn't help but burst into laughter. "The east and west sides of this quadrangle courtyard are as beautiful as a painting."
"But as soon as you lower your gaze, the chickens and rabbits on the first floor immediately ground the entire quadrangle courtyard.
"My emotions got stuck in my chest, and I almost couldn't catch my breath."
Tian Jing glanced at her. "You don't understand, do you? If a rural house isn't grounded, it can't blend in."
"Then why didn't you build a common rural courtyard? Why build it like this instead?"
"This," Tian Jing looked carefully at the outer perimeter of the quadrangle courtyard, as if since her mother-in-law moved in, her grandfather's traces were slowly fading away.
"This was built for a relative of mine."